With municipalities and other government entities struggling to balance budgets and revitalize local economies, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced plans to implement an early warning monitoring system to assist struggling municipalities and school districts.
The system is designed to identify those government entities experiencing signs of budgetary strain so that corrective actions can be taken before a full financial crisis develops, DiNapoli said in a Sept. 24 statement.
Using data that has already been collected from more than 4,000 local governments, the comptroller’s office will calculate and publicize an official score indicating fiscal stress for municipalities and school districts across the state.
The early warning system will include nine financial indicators, such as available cash and patterns of operating deficits, along with broader demographic information such as population trends and tax assessment fluctuations.
DiNapoli said his office plans to distribute the proposed system to officials in the state for their review during a 60-day comment period. The comptroller’s office will then implement the system, beginning with localities whose fiscal year ends Dec. 31, later applying it to villages and school districts whose fiscal years end at various points throughout the calendar year.
The proposed system was announced in conjunction with a report released by DiNapoli that shows expenditures by the state’s 61 cities, excluding New York City, have increased $2.7 billion since 1980, while locally raised revenues have increased just $2.1 billion.